Like all things we remember as 'good', Counterstrike, and Half-Life by association, got it's well-deserved reputation ruined by money. That's all. As soon as those two-bit 'professional gaming leagues' started promising software and hardware companies the moon and goading them into throwing ridiculous amounts of money at what is still and probably always will be a hobby, gamers simply followed the money trail.
Bad Half-Life? No.
Bad Counterstrike? No.
Bad PGL, CPL, OGL, ABC, 123, and all the rest of the alphabet soup of cheap hacks cashing in on our hobby? Yes